Alien
by LascyllaR
Summary: Sakura awakens in the dark and is met with a request. Well, more of a demand, really. Eventual Sakura/Orochimaru.


The darkness was cool and humid, pressing on her skin like an intangible blanket. She blinked and tried to see, but no light reached her retinas. The floor pressed hard against her hip and shoulder where she lay, and she rearranged her limbs into a ginger crawl, careful of her tender head. Dirt. The floor was dirt, she could feel it bunch and burrow under her short fingernails as she felt out the walls of her prison. Walls, cool to the bumping, hesitant touch of her hands, a door, wooden, sturdy but easily broken with her extraordinary strength. _What a flimsy cell._

Sakura flattened her palms to the floor and pushed herself into an unsteady crouch, waited for the dizziness to subside, then slowly rose until she was standing, knees bent, ears straining for any hint of sound. Nothing. She felt around the door until her hand fell clumsily to a handle, which turned under her touch. She braced herself, then slowly pushed the door open, into more darkness. She caught a small sob in her throat before it could make its way out of her mouth. She was the most skilled med-nin since her mentor, Tsunade, and just because she was dizzy and aching and lost in the dark, didn't mean she could be weak.

Carefully, all senses on high alert, Sakura felt her way down a corridor, inching along with her hand against the cold dirt wall. A wall of light suddenly blinded her, she blinked and forced her tearing eyes open. There was a familiar figure in the doorway, backlit and hard to place, and Sakura stilled, hands raised with open palms before her. She was in no shape to fight; her best bet was pacifism at this point.

"Who are you?"

The figure moved forward, resolving into a grey-haired medic.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten me, Sakura?"

Sakura straightened, lowering her shoulders and relaxing her posture. Kabuto. _Orochimaru, snake, Kabuto, glasses shining, what could he want? And which he? And Sasuke?_ Shaking off the rapid-fire images presenting themselves to her minds-eye like a flipbook, Sakura stepped forward, removing her hand from the wall and easing chakra into her limbs in preparation for a fight she was sure she couldn't currently win.

"Never, Kabuto. How could I ever forget you."

The grey-haired med-nin nodded, affecting a humble posture, but his eyes smirked behind glinting glasses. "How sweet of you, Miss Haruno."

"Why am I here?"

Kabuto straightened, shrugging off the humble medic persona, and pierced her with his steady gaze. "Orochimaru is ill. He requires the aid of the best medic-nin in all the Lands."

"That title belongs to Tsunade still, Kabuto," Sakura said sternly, holding his gaze.

"Ah, yes, I suppose it does. However… acquiring… the fifth hokage represents an act of war against Konoha and the Land of Fire. Otogakure is not currently interested in provoking such a confrontation. So, you see, the apprentice will have to do."

"And what makes you think I would lift a finger to help Orochimaru?"

A small, amused smile stole over Kabuto's face, and he chuckled softly. "Because, if you do not, your friends will find your body at the border to the Land of Earth, and clutched in your hand will be a scroll containing some very sensitive information about the Fifth Hokage. You will be branded a traitor in death."

Sakura breathed slow and steady, carefully pulsing chakra around her body in slow waves, trying to locate the source of her malaise. She would have to bide her time here; there was no possibility of escape in her current state of weakness.

"Well, I wouldn't want that," Sakura ground her teeth and shot a murderous glare at the flare of light off Kabuto's glasses. "I suppose I have no choice."

"I'm glad you see reason, Sakura," Kubto agreed gracefully. "Follow me, if you will. You will need to freshen up before you examine Lord Orochimaru."

* * *

Sakura pushed the proferred glass of water away with a regretful sigh. She would not risk imbibing anything provided her in this place. She would play along until an opportunity presented itself, then she would be gone from this place. Just as soon as her head stopped spinning every time she stood up, and her muscles regained their strength.

"Kabuto, stop trying to feed and water me, and take me to Orochimaru," Sakura snapped, standing all-too abruptly, and slapping her hands on the table to steady herself. "I'm fine, I don't need to be treated like a guest when I'm a prisoner. Just get me to your master so that I can see what I'm working with."

Kabuto huffed slightly and removed the glass and plate of food from the table. "If you insist, Miss Haruno."

Sakura straightened, her head clearing. "I do, Kabuto."

Kabuto dropped all pretence of hospitality, his face losing expression so quickly it almost provoked another round of dizziness in Sakura. "This way."

* * *

The room was dark and stifling, all stone and wood, with a fireplace and a large, curtained bed. Candles flickered from various surfaces around the room, casting a glow over piles of books and stacks of scrolls, and plush velvet recliners. Kabuto had knocked quietly before opening the door with unexpected reverence. He now moved carefully towards the bed, stepping around piles of books and discarded brushes and inkstones.

Kabuto slowly pulled back a curtain, peering around it and exchanging quiet words with a reclining figure the silhouette of which Sakura could just barely make out. The curtain fell back into place and Kabuto stepped aside, gesturing for Sakura to approach.

Sakura moved to the bedside and placed her hand around the edge of the curtain, pausing to calm the nerves ricocheting around the inside of her chest. With a steadying breath, the medic-nin slowly pulled back the curtain, eyes trained on the figure behind it.

The first things that struck her were his eyes. honey-gold and lined with purple, and the prominent cheek and jawbones, almost seeming to protrude through pale skin. His black hair lay around him in messy lengths, as though he had not had the strength to smooth it into place. Sakura hesitated, allowing her eyes to roam over his form, wrapped in blanket upon blanket, but underneath, she would wager, emaciated and weak.

The snake-man hissed a breath through his teeth and his eyes narrowed into slits.

"What are you staring at, girl?"

Sakura started, almost dropping the curtain. She met his eyes and silently recited the Flower Escape Genjutsu seals in her mind, beating her instinctive fear into submission with the familiar mantra. _Stay calm, Sakura. Don't run away and don't lose your temper. He might look weak but he is still dangerous._

Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly to match his, "My patient."

Orochimaru's wide mouth curled at the edges, and his eyes sparkled with mirth for just a moment, "Excellent."

Sakura breathed a mental sigh of relief and noted that he responded positively to a little spine. _Thank the gods for that, because I don't think I'm capable of being timid little Sakura anymore._

"I trust Kabuto has informed you of my… condition?"

Sakura nodded and was surprised to find a chair bumping into the backs of her knees. She turned and gave Kabuto an irritated glare, but gave in and sat regardless.

"Yes, he did, although I don't know how much I will be able to help. Your situation is rather unusual."

Orochimaru chuckled, rasping and low, and gestured for Kabuto to leave the room with a jerk of his chin. Sakura shifted a little uncomfortably at that. She never would have imagined she'd miss having Kabuto at her back.

"Indeed it is. Unique, even, one might say."

Sakura sighed and leaned forward, "Enough beating around the bush, Orochimaru. I will endeavour to help you if I can, but I will promise you nothing."

Orochimaru's gleaming eyes went flat and Sakura pulled back, aware that she had crossed some invisible line. _Good job, Sakura. Well done, you've pissed off the snake sannin._

"You will heal me, or you will die, little blossom," Orochimaru hissed, sitting up from his reclining position with a speed and power that belied his current condition. His eyes had hardened into a zealous fervour, and raven hair swung forward to hang about his ashen face.

Sakura sat, frozen, half furious at being threatened, and half terrified. This man – creature, thing, whatever – was contemptible, corrupted and rotting, and he dared threaten her? But she could feel the power rolling off him in waves, and so she desperately reigned in her chakra's answering rise.

Orochimaru must have recognised that she was backing down, for he slumped back against the pillows, breathing heavily, and keeping his eyes trained on her. The threat remained within those eyes; she understood what he was saying with them:

_My weakness will not stop me. You will submit or you will die._

Sakura swallowed heavily and forced her shoulders to relax. She looked plainly and openly into the golden snake-eyes, and willed both him and her to be calm.


End file.
